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No fix in sight as West Virginia teacher strike enters third week

JOHN RABY, Associated Press
Published 6:31 a.m. PT March 5, 2018

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West Virginia's teachers are refusing to go to school for a fourth day Tuesday in protest of pay that is among the lowest in the nation. Teachers are on strike in all 55 West Virginia counties and rallied outside the state capitol on Monday. (Feb. 27)
AP

Jennyerin Steele Staats, a special education teacher from Jackson County holds her sign aloft outside of the capitol building.(Photo: Craig Hudson, AP)

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A statewide strike by West Virginia's teachers entered a new week Monday with no resolution in sight. Teachers are waiting for state lawmakers to agree on a pay raise, and the state House and Senate haven't scheduled a meeting to resolve their differences.

Many teachers said they'd rather be in the classroom. But they say they believe they've come too far to back down.

"We feel like we're under attack constantly," said Cody Thompson, social studies and civics teacher at Elkins High School. "Eventually whenever you're pushed into a corner, you've got to push back."

That leaves West Virginia's parents anxiously trying to fill their children's idle hours with something besides play video games, and teachers showing rising discontent as the strike drags on amid concerns about their own income.

The teacher walkout over pay and benefits in this Appalachian mountain state shuttered classrooms Feb. 22 and shows no signs of an immediate resolution. Classrooms were expected to remain closed again Monday as angry teachers return to the Capitol to press legislators to raise their pay, nearly the lowest in the nation, after four years without an increase.

"What we're seeing is a movement in the U.S. Not just a labor movement. It's a class of people rising up," said Sam Brunett, an art teacher at Morgantown High School.

The walkout began after Gov. Jim Justice signed a 2 percent pay raise for next year. The House of Delegates later approved a 5 percent increase, negotiated last week between Justice and the unions.

Then on Saturday, the state Senate approved a 4 percent raise, prompting angry union leaders to vow to stay out of the classroom indefinitely. The House wouldn't agree to the Senate's move, sending the bill to the conference committee.

House of Delegates spokesman Jared Hunt said Sunday no committee meeting has been scheduled. So the wait continues.

Keeping schools shut for 277,000 students and 35,000 employees has been determined on a day-to-day basis. In a state with a 17.9 percent poverty rate, teachers and volunteers have gathered food for distribution to students who rely on free breakfasts and lunches at school.

To make ends meet for themselves, many of these teachers have side jobs.

Colette Brown, left, 6, and Emily Knight, 6, draw with chalk on the sidewalk as their mothers, who are teachers demonstrate outside of the Capitol building on the fourth day of statewide walkouts in Charleston, W.Va. CRAIG HUDSON, Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP

Teachers John and Kerry Guerini of Fayetteville, W.Va. hold signs at a rally at the state Capitol in Charleston, W.Va. Teachers across West Virginia will continue a walkout over pay and benefits. JOHN RABY, AP

Capital High School teacher Susie Garrison, left, George Washington High School student Amelia Engle and Nitro High School teacher Kizmet Chandler, right, smile during a candlelight rally in support of the ongoing statewide teachers walkout outside of the Capitol building in Charleston, W.Va. CRAIG HUDSON, Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP

Hundreds of West Virginia teachers and school personnel wait the arrival of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice for a town hall style meeting in Wheeling, W.Va., on Feb. 26, 2018, about the on-going statewide school teacher's and service personnel walk-out over wages and benefits. SCOTT MCCLOSKEY, The Intelligencer via AP

Logan Musgrave, left, serves Carla Luketic, a teacher at Barrackville Elementary, french toast casserole that he and his mother made for the teacher protest on Feb. 22, 2018, in Barrackville, W.Va. TAMMY SHRIVER, Times-West Virginian via AP

A supporter gives a thumbs up to the school personnel demonstrating outside of the Capitol building on the fourth day of statewide walkouts in Charleston, W.Va. CRAIG HUDSON, Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP

Amanda Scarbery waves to passing drivers while demonstrating with other school personnel along Route 60 across from the capitol building in Charleston, W.Va., on Feb. 26, 2018 during the third day of the statewide walkout by school personnel. CRAIG HUDSON, Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP

Ivan Weikle makes a face at his father while holding a sign in support of PEIA drawn by Lewisburg Elementary School art teacher Jody Wilber, second from left, along Route 219 in Lewisburg, W.Va. on the third day of the statewide walkout by school personnel. CRAIG HUDSON, Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP

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Brunett does freelance art work on the side. Thompson has sold pizza, served tables and worked at a discount store. He now also works in a federally funded outreach program to help prepare students for college.

Kristie Skidmore, an elementary school reading specialist, has an adult clothing shop at her home.

"You're looking at people here who every day care about other people, other families. People's kids," Skidmore said. "But at the end of the day, now we're forced to be able to figure out how to care for our own families. That's what it's all about."

As for the students, it's not like they can go with their families on a long vacation.

At a Charleston mall, Cheryl Carty said her niece — second grader Zoey Lanier — has filled the void with activities that have included a visit to a museum children's exhibit and a trip to the movies. Between licks of ice cream, Zoey said she was disappointed she couldn't return to school to turn in an art project she worked hard on that was due.

Elsewhere, Brady Stafford and about a dozen of his friends got in some extra practice at a South Charleston soccer field.

Stafford, a Charleston seventh grader, said that since the strike began, he's attended sleepovers and played Xbox games. His friend, seventh grader Ben Jamerson, admitted he's had bouts of boredom.

At a nearby ice arena, Melissa Hodges took her two daughters for regular skating lessons. Additional bonding with mom aside, fifth grader Kelsie Hodges is ready to get back to school. "I miss my friends," she said.